Tijuana team a rising star in struggling community

The coach is Wilson Graniolati, a 46-year-old Uruguayan who worked at four different Premier Division clubs and beat out several other big-name candidates for the job.

The star is Raul Enriquez, a 24-year-old forward who is averaging nearly a goal a game this season, including both strikes in Sunday's 2-0 semifinal win against Petroleros de Salamanca.

The Xolos have the 27-team league's best overall record for the split seasons at 18-3-11. Counting playoffs, they have lost just five times in the past 40 games and only once at home.

Next in their path are the Venados (Bucks) of Merida, who have the second-best overall record and also rarely lose at home. And the Xolos won't have Enriquez for tomorrow's first leg, a casualty of two yellow cards (the second coming in the 89th minute) in the semis.

Things figure to get easier in next week's promotion final. Queretaro was the upset winner of the season's first half and slipped to 13th in the Clausura, out of playoff contention. That means it will go a month without competitive soccer before taking the field against Merida or Tijuana.

To meet the Mexican soccer federation's minimum seating requirement, the Xolos would hastily close the lower bowl of Estadio Caliente (it's currently a horseshoe) to bring capacity above 18,000 by August. It probably would take another year to erect a second deck necessary to meet demand for games against Chivas of Guadalajara or Club America.

In the meantime, why not bring selected games across the border to Qualcomm Stadium?

Don't count on it happening, for two reasons.

One is that playing league games in another country requires approval from an alphabet soup of international, regional and national governing bodies, and it is unlikely the Xolos would get it. The other is the loyal Tijuana fans who sat through decades of mediocrity.

“We haven't discussed it,” Cornejo said of moving games to the Q. “It wouldn't be fair to the people who have supported us.”

Tickets for Sunday's game against Merida went on sale during last weekend's semifinal game. By the following afternoon, they were gone.